What's Up! Magazine

Among the new wave in the Bellingham music scene is Cumulus, the project by 21-year old Alexandra Neidzialkowski (pronounced knee-jow-koff-ski), a Western student whose songs are simultaneously sweet, beautiful and emotionally engaging.

Alex began playing guitar and singing while in high school and started performing under the name of Great Ghost when she was 18 living in Anacortes. The name, taken from her favorite Mount Eerie song, didn’t last. “I thought it’d be cool,” she said. “then somebody told me ‘You know, that’s really cheesy.’ Here I am, living in Anacortes and he (Phil Elverum) lives in Anacortes, so I got really nervous and changed my name to Cumulus. But, now I look back and think that shouldn’t have cared. It’s still a cool name, but I like Cumulus, I’m really into clouds.”

Drawing her influence from the early Blow recordings, Alex acknowledges her limitations on guitar, instead using her voice as a primary instrument. “The voice as an instrument is really interesting to me because although I feel sometimes incapable of playing any physical, tangible instrument, my voice is still something that I feel like I know I feel it’s all about what I like with my ear. Harmonizing with myself and doing something a cappella just came really naturally.”

While Cumulus has a song on the Breakfast for Dinner compilation as well as on MySpace, Alex hasn’t officially released anything, though she did burn 12 CDs for her last show, giving them away to fans. “That’s the horrible thing – I’ve played all these really big shows with opportunities to sell things but I don’t have anything. I don’t really have a recording plan. I need to make one, but don’t really know where to get started.”

The Cumulus songs that are available on the web, were recorded using GarageBand, a favorite of Alex’s, whose begun exploring the different settings in the program. “I just recently learned how to add compression,” she said with a smile. ‘So Far Gone’ and ‘Wide Awake’ are both me learning how to compress vocals and add reverb. ‘Why’ was recorded through the ‘indi-rock guitar’ instrument effect on the microphone. I’m serious. Recently, Alex brought on Anna Arvin (I Love You Avalanche) and Peter Woiwood (Go Slowpoke) to fill out Cumulus. The two had offered their services if Alex ever wanted to play in a full band, which she took them up on. “Our first practice was in this old shed at Peter’s house and it sounded awesome. I’ve been playing music since I was 15 or 16, but had never sang my songs with people before. I was so nervous and self-conscious but none of it mattered because it was so much fun and sounded great!”

While the band progresses, Alex continues to work on writing, which is a laborious process. “I write a song once every four months. I’m lucky if a song comes out, and if it does come out it comes out all at once.” In an effort to aid her songwriting and monitor her changes over the years, Alex has recorded herself using iMovie, filming over 200 videos over the last three years.

“I’ll just have my guitar, and then I’ll play the chords I know, and then I’ll just sing whatever is on my mind, and it’ll all come out as a song trapped on video. It’s really interesting in how my voice has changed over the last three years.” She added, “My hair too.”